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Saturday, May 13, 2006, 11:30 pm

Bush Justice Dept: “If It’s Secret, It’s Above The Law”

Joseph Menn and Josh Meyer for the Los Angeles Times report that "the Justice Department on Saturday asked a federal judge to throw out an eavesdropping lawsuit against AT&T Corp., citing possible damage from the litigation to national security."

In the new court papers, federal officials argued that whether the operations were legal or not, they involved secrets.
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"The government is trying to shove the NSA and AT&T illegal spying operation under an impenetrable cloak of secrecy," said Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group representing AT&T customers in the lawsuit. "They are essentially arguing that no one can ever go to court to stop illegal surveillance, so long as they claim it was done in the name of national security."